Style and Function: Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Archaeology

240 Pages·2000·1.5 MB·English

by  Teresa D. Hurt

Style and Function

Style and Function
Conceptual Issues in
Evolutionary Archaeology
Edited by
Teresa D. Hurt
and
Gordon F. M. Rakita
Foreword by Robert C. Dunnell
BERGIN & GARVEY
Westport, Connecticut • London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Styleandfunction:conceptualissuesinevolutionaryarchaeology/editedbyTeresaD.
HurtandGordonF.M.Rakita;forewordbyRobertC.Dunnell.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–89789–732–3(alk.paper)
1. Archaeology—Methodology. 2. Archaeology—Philosophy. 3. Evolution. 4. Social
evolution. 5. Archaeology—Classification. I. Hurt,TeresaD.,1960– II. Rakita,Gordon
F.M.1971–
CC75.7.S79 2001
930.1'01—dc21 00–029260
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Copyright(cid:2)2001byTeresaD.HurtandGordonF.M.Rakita
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ISBN:0–89789–732–3
Firstpublishedin2001
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CopyrightAcknowledgment
Theeditorsandpublisheraregratefulforpermissiontoreprintthefollowingcopyrighted
material:
Figure1.1,‘‘Hypotheticalchangesinfrequencyoftraitsunderselectionversustraitsunder
drift,’’reprintedfromM.J.O’BrienandR.L.Lyman,‘‘DarwinianEvolutionismIsApplicable
toHistoricalArchaeology,’’InternationalJournalofHistoricalArchaeology(March2000).
Reprintedwithpermission.
For my father, Wesley R. Hurt (1917–1997), whose energy and enthusiasmfor
archaeology and for life will always be an inspiration for me—TDH
For my wife, Cally, and my son, Nicholas, who never begrudged my endless
retreats to the computer in order to undertake work on this volume—GFMR

Contents
Figures and Tables ix
Foreword by Robert C. Dunnell xiii
Preface xxv
1. Style and Function: An Introduction 1
Michael J. O’Brien and Robert D. Leonard
2. Differential Persistence of What? The Scale of Selection Issue
in Evolutionary Archaeology 25
Hector Neff
3. Directionality, Function, and Adaptation in the Archaeological
Record 41
Timothy D. Maxwell
4. Explaining the Co-occurrence of Traits in the Archaeological
Record: A Further Consideration of Replicative Success 51
Teresa D. Hurt, Todd L. VanPool, Gordon F. M. Rakita, and
Robert D. Leonard
5. Culture Historical and Biological Approaches to Identifying
Homologous Traits 69
R. Lee Lyman
6. Neutrality, ‘‘Style,’’ and Drift: Building Methods for Studying
Cultural Transmission in the Archaeological Record 91
Carl Lipo and Mark Madsen
viii Contents
7. Style, Function, and Variation: Identifying the Evolutionary
Importance of Traits in the Archaeological Record 119
Todd L. VanPool
8. A Million Years of Style and Function: Regional and Temporal
Variation in Acheulean Handaxes 141
C. David Vaughan
9. Implications of New Studies of Hawaiian Fishhook Variability
for Our Understanding of Polynesian Settlement History 165
Michael T. Pfeffer
10. Style, Function, and Systematic Empiricism: The Conflation of
Process and Pattern 183
Ethan E. Cochrane
Index 203
About the Contributors 211
Figures and Tables
FIGURES
1.1 Hypothetical changes in frequency of traits under selection
versus traits under drift 9
1.2 Hypothetical frequency seriation of 11 artifact assemblages
using five artifact classes 10
1.3 A model for producing a clade-diversity diagram 12
1.4 A hypothetical cladogram showing the phylogenetic relation
among four classes, or taxa 13
7.1 Hypothetical distribution of a functional trait 122
7.2 Changes in a hypothetical distribution of a functional trait
resulting from stabilizing selection 123
7.3 Changes in a hypothetical distribution of a functional trait
resulting from directional selection 124
7.4 Changes in a hypothetical distribution of a functional trait
resulting from disruptive selection 125
7.5 Type IA metates from Paquime´, Chihuahua, Mexico 131
8.1 Polar coordinate system for handaxes (adapted from Wynn
and Tierson 1990) 144
8.2 Corrected coefficients of variation on 22 variables of total
handaxe sample 149
8.3 Corrected coefficients of variation on 22 variables of African
(top), Asian (middle), and European (bottom) handaxes 150
x Figuresand Tables
8.4 Corrected coefficients of variation on 22 variables of Early
(top), Middle (middle), and Late (bottom) handaxes from
Africa 152
8.5 Comparison of corrected coefficients of variation on 22
variables of Early, Middle, and Late Acheulean handaxes
from Europe (top), Asia (middle), and Africa (bottom) 153
9.1 Pearl shell and mammal bone one-piece fishhooks from
several Hawaiian assemblages 167
9.2 Two-piece fishhook point and shank limbs from Hawai`i 168
9.3 Map of Hawaiian Islands showing K-3 and H-8 localities 169
10.1 Taxonomy comprising nondimensional classes 189
10.2 Comparison of the functional distribution of the marae
superclass (left) versus the stylistic distribution of marae
Class 4 (right) 193
TABLES
4.1 Hierarchy of biological evolutionary individuals, in
descending order, as proposed by Vrba and Eldredge
(1984:149) 53
4.2 Proposed hierarchy of behavioral and material phenotypic
traits as represented in the archaeological record, in
descending order of inclusiveness 57
6.1 Example set of 10 hypothetical assemblages with five types 105
6.2 Results of the random walk test conducted for sample
assemblages in Table 6.1 106
6.3 The calculated values of the observed and expected meme
identity and the 95 percent confidence intervals for each
assemblage in St. Francis and Memphis area assemblages 108
6.4 Analysis of neutrality on culture historical types and Memphis
and St. Francis assemblages 111
7.1 Summary statistics of metric variables measured on metates
from Paquime´, Chihuahua, Mexico by Di Peso et al. (1974) 132
7.2 Rank ordering of metric variables of the Paquime´ metates by
their corrected coefficients of variation 133
8.1 Summary of model 146
8.2 Corrected coefficients of variation on 22 variables of Early,
Middle, and Late Acheulean handaxes from Europe, Asia, and
Africa 154
8.3 Results of Bartlett’s test 156